From early adopter to net-zero aspirant: Autex Acoustics' sustainability journey

Sustainability in the architecture and construction industry, as in many others, has come a long way over the last few decades.

For most of the 20th century, practices that were deemed sustainable were relatively unheard of; carried out by only the most environmentally-conscious or green companies. Then in the new millennium, it started to pick up some steam, but was still derided by many as simply a ‘buzzword’.

Now, in the 2020s, it forms a significant part of many companies’ business model, as public perception shifts, demand for sustainable options rises, and domestic and international climate-related regulations kick in. It’s now almost an imperative not only from a moral standpoint, but also because it makes total business sense.

It didn’t always be this way, but there were some companies that were self-described ‘leaders of the charge’ in New Zealand’s construction industry, setting precedents years before public perception had changed. 

Autex Acoustics, a New Zealand-owned and operated company that offers acoustics for the built environment, is one such business.

The company, which specialises in reducing and controlling reverberation and echo in building interiors, recently announced that it had achieved carbon neutrality across its entire business – but this didn’t happen overnight. 

Aidan Hill, the company’s dedicated sustainability manager who came on in 2017, says it became imperative when he arrived that Autex Acoustics did more to enrich its sustainability practices.

So, after exhaustive consultation both internally and externally of what sustainability initiatives people found important, they came up with a plan that revolved around five areas of focus – and at top of the list was climate action.

The company created a Carbon Neutral Initiative, which mitigates their carbon impact by offsetting the equivalent emissions using certified carbon credits – thereby making their acoustic products entirely carbon neutral. 

This began as mitigating the carbon impact of acoustic products initially, but later grew to include global operations and the manufacture of all acoustic products too. These carbon credits are generated from projects focused on renewable energy, fuel switching, and reforestation around the world.

Other activities include increasing the energy efficiency of the company’s plant and equipment by commissioning more efficient manufacturing lines; upgrading 100% of the lighting across our core manufacturing sites to LED; and reducing the raw material needed to make the Cube product by 30%, reducing the product embodied carbon.

But carbon neutrality is merely a stepping stone – the primary goal is to become a net zero carbon organisation. To achieve this, Autex Acoustics actively monitors its carbon emissions, and in 2017 it began carbon accounting and measuring for its core manufacturing facility in New Zealand.

Not long after that, they extended the scope of this to their international footprint.

“It’s a huge undertaking for a manufacturer – to measure your carbon footprint across both local and global operations,” says Aidan. “When you’re moving product around the world, it can get very complex to measure every kilogram of carbon emitted. But it’s been a few years since we’ve started this journey, and with the data we’ve received from the measurements, we can put in further plans to reduce the amount of emissions.”

“Purchasing carbon credits is a short term solution. Our long term goal is to reduce emissions towards our ultimate goal of becoming net-zero carbon.”

And Autex Acoustics managing director Rob Woolner says that this goal is now a central pillar of the organisation.

“A lot of companies might want to delay this process for another time, but since our 2017 shake up, we’ve held the philosophy of ‘do it once, do it properly’,” says Rob. “And as Aidan said, it’s a lot more difficult for an international manufacturer to pull this off.

“It’s a huge project with lots of time and money invested in it. And that’s why we’re so proud of the work we’ve done so far to be carbon neutral in everything we do. And there is more to come”

Learn more about Autex Acoustics.